Hi all, Considering this 2012 Prius Four with 94K miles..Owner listed at $9999. 2012 Toyota Prius Four Hatchback - cars & trucks - by owner - vehicle automotive sale Looks nice.. Price seems a tad too high when I look at KBB and Edmunds estimates. However, the big gotcha here is that they did have a small run-in with a deer . Owner was forthcoming about it. Passenger side headlight was replaced along with "some other parts". I'm getting more info on it but seems like this would certainly affect the price? Looks like KBB/Edmunds do not have a "was in fender bender or accident" option. At the very least I will have to get it looked at...maybe at a dealer? Also, anyone ever buy thru craigslist before? And anyone ever buy a deer-damaged car? I'm rather leery of 'unseen damage' and such. Thanks!
When my son was driving my Prius he missed a curve Went across a ditch and the nose went up a small mound of dirt and took out a natural gas vent and a stop sign. Air bag never went off. Still put another 85,000 miles on it. In fact I just bought a new bumper for it. Look at the body fitment it should be equal all around. Drive it and see if it pulls to one side. But hey, Taking it to a dealer would be the best bet. Looks like a great car.
An accident is not as important as the quality of the repair of the damage. There are shops out there that can make things "good as new" so its no problem that the car was in an accident. OTOH, there are shops out there that really aren't very good. If the shop is really bad, you'll see it (bad fit) or feel it (steering pull) -- but that's only the extreme. Collision repair work with shortcuts can be hidden and not at all obvious. That's why accident cars can be a risky purchase. You just don't know whether the work you can't see was done correctly.
I'm leaning against the vehicle with deer damage for now. Looking at other options. Also found a white 2011 package 2 with a clean title, etc...for $6800. This is more in line with what i want to spend on a 'kids car'. The car looks really clean in photos and the white color looks sharp. Clean 'autocheck'. The main downside is that it has 150K miles on it. Apparently it was a "long commute" vehicle...which is good ( at least it wasn't an Uber vehicle ). Anything to look out for with a high mileage Prius? Note that I will take it to the Toyota dealer to have it checked out, etc... Thanks all!
aging battery mostly. though miles are usually better than age. i would be concerned about good service records, and was the tranny fluid ever changed. perhaps oil burning, and head gasket concerns, as well as brake actuator.
Unfortunately, they don't have any service records...and the carfax doesn't have any either. I think I will steer clear of this one. I'm getting better at searching..kind of fun actually. Overall, I'm seeing Gen3 prices have dropped quite a bit lately. Found a 2013 Three with 86K miles with impeccable records ( 5K oil changes at dealer ) for 11K. It has been on a dealer lot since last October with multiple price drops...which seems odd. I'm inquiring if they can work with me on price. Found a 2011 Four with 103K miles with solar roof package for 10K. Decent carfax records but looks like a few oil changes were stretched past 10K....which isn't great. The solar roof and moonroof is tempting on the 2011..I must say!
Take the time to find anything 2012 and beyond at the fair or lower than fair price. I did 6 months of hunting the ideal prius down before settling, no one better not run into me and wreck it entirely . Carfax won't report all accidents, I have a camry that was smashed into the USPS. I reported to the accident to the DMV with paper work 11 months ago, still shows no accident on carfax. The one your looking at could suffer structual damage and not be listed, a dealership tried to sell me one with that specific damage and told me out right about it but it wasn't on carfax.
